Kelly Davis's Staging Area

Overall I enjoyed the race. As others have said, it was hilly at times (which I anticipated given the location) and there was an unexpected, long stretch of gravel road (which wasn’t ideal, but would have been much worse had I not worn the right shoes). The water/energy drink support was great, with the opportunity to replenish at least every couple of miles. The scenery was really pretty at times (but mostly backroadish). All in all, I really enjoyed running this course with my friends.

I think our biggest disappointment was the post race festival. If I had a chance to do over, I would have skipped it entirely. My friends and I paid $25 a piece to participate, which we were eager and willing to do when we were under the impression we could sample from the 15 listed wineries; however, when it came time to join the festival, the lines were huge. We got through two lines before checking our watches and giving up. I’m not sure how many signed up for the post race (I just know that there were a lot of people), but assuming race organizers had those numbers, they didn’t adequately ensure the wineries provided the necessary staff/tables to accommodate post race participants being able to sample quickly. It’s a shame because the ‘shtick’ that draws people to your half (or at least drew my group) is the post race wine festival; otherwise, I can find an equally challenging trail course closer to home and save the money I spent traveling and “wine tasting”.

So in sum: Good course. Poor post race, but could easily be fixed.